Boudica

Boudica led a revolt against the Roman rule of Britain in AD
60-61. She was Queen of the Iceni people, a British tribe who lived
in what is today Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Her correct name is Boudica, which means 'Victoria', and not
Boudicea.

Seventeen years after the Romans conquered southern England (AD
43) Boudica led a rebellion by native Britons against their Roman
rulers. Her husband, Prasutagus, was ruler of the Iceni people. The
Romans allowed Prasutagus to continue as king, ruling on their
behalf. When Prasutagus died, the Romans decided to rule the Iceni
directly and they confiscated the property of the leading Iceni
families. The Romans are also said to have stripped and whipped
Boudica and raped her daughters. These actions and the Britons'
resentment of the Romans caused Boudica to lead a revolt. Members
of other tribes probably joined her. Her warriors successfully
defeated one Roman army and destroyed the capital of Roman Britain,
which was then Colchester. Later her armies went on to destroy
London and Verulamium (St Albans). Finally, she was defeated by a
Roman army led by Caius Suetonius Paullinus. Many Britons were
killed and Boudica probably killed herself with poison.

Evidence for Boudica's destruction of Colchester, London and St
Albans has been found by archaeologists and includes the remains of
buildings burnt down by the rebels. At Colchester, Boudica
destroyed the temple built for the Emperor Claudius. A head from a
bronze statue of the Emperor, which is thought to have come from
the temple, was found at Rendham in Suffolk and is now in The
British Museum.

One Roman historian, Dio Cassius, describes Boudica wearing a
magnificent gold neck ring. This was almost certainly a torc. Torcs
found at Snettisham and Ispwich were placed in the ground more than
100 years before Boudica lived, but we can, perhaps, imagine her
wearing one of very similar and magnificent design. And, is it a
coincidence that there have been many finds of gold and silver
torcs from Norfolk and Suffolk, where the Iceni people lived?